Fritz Stüssi

Fritz Stüssi (born January 3, 1901 in Wädenswil ; † March 15, 1981 in Zurich ) was a Swiss civil engineer . He was from 1937 to 1966 professor of structural engineering and building construction and bridge construction in steel and wood at the ETH Zurich . From 1949 to 1951, Stüssi was rector of the ETH Zurich.

Life

Fritz Stüssi was born as the eldest son of the music director Fritz Stüssi. After graduating from the cantonal literary school in Zurich in 1919, he studied civil engineering at the ETH Zurich from 1919 to 1923. After two years as assistant to Arthur Rohn , he worked for one year in the steel construction workshop of AG Conrad Zschokke in Döttingen AG and from 1927 for three years at W. Koch & Co. in Zurich. In June 1930 he received his doctorate from the ETH Zurich. In 1930 he went on a study trip to the USA, where he found a job with Othmar Ammann and took part in construction projects such as the Bayonne Bridge . In January 1931 Stüssi returned to Switzerland and until September 1936 was a senior engineer at the iron construction company in Zurich.

In 1935 he completed his habilitation at the ETH Zurich. In 1936 he took part in the "Structural Engineering Olympics" in Berlin. In the same year he founded an engineering office. On October 1, 1937, he was appointed professor for structural engineering and bridge construction in steel at the ETH Zurich.

Stüssi was mainly active in theory. He published seven textbooks as well as 178 articles in technical journals that deal with tilting and buckling problems, load determination and special tasks of civil and military structural engineering in steel, aluminum and wood. Stüssi rejected the load bearing method and had been arguing against this method again and again since the mid-1950s.

The waiting hall at Bellevue in Zurich is one of his better-known buildings .

Stüssi was Secretary General for Steel Construction from 1937, President from 1951 and Honorary President from 1966 of the International Association for Bridge Construction and Building Construction (IVBH) and headed several international congresses. He was honored with seven honorary doctorates from three continents. Stüssi worked as a sapper in the Swiss Army and was chief of genius in an army corps with the rank of colonel . He was also awarded the Wilhelm Exner Medal in 1966 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Fritz Stüssi in the catalog of the German National Library
• Entry about Fritz Stüssi in the database of the Wilhelm Exner Medal Foundation .
• Fritz Stüssi's estate at ETH Zurich (PDF; 3.89 MB)
• Karl-Eugen Kurrer: The history of statics and structural analysis as reflected in scientific controversies
• Bruno Meyer: Fritz Stüssi. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

Other sources

• Schweizerische Bauzeitung , Vol. 112, July 9, 1938; Vol. 117, March 29, 1941; January 6, 1966
• Final reports of the congresses of the IVBH in 1948, 1952, 1957 and 1960
• Neue Zürcher Zeitung , February 21, 1960

literature

• Karl-Eugen Kurrer : History of Structural Analysis. In search of balance , 2., strong ad. Edition, Ernst & Sohn , Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-433-03134-6 , p. 128, p. 135f, p. 915 and p. 1038 (biography).